The Long and Winding Road to the Doctoral Judiciary
Let me introduce myself, my name is Sugiharto. I work as a lecturer in the Biology Department, Faculty of Science and Technology, Airlangga University. I completed a Bachelor’s degree in Biology, FMIPA Unair and a Master’s degree at the UGM Faculty of Biology. The process of continuing your doctoral studies actually started with an offer of research collaboration between Prof. Dr. Y.S. Wulan Manuhara, M.Si., namely using Gynura procumbens root tissue culture products rather than just as a research output, according to him it can also be used as a PhD topic. At first I was a little hesitant to agree to this offer. Finally, with various considerations and support from fellow lecturers at Biology FST Unair and my family, by saying Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, I agreed to the offer. I registered for the FST Unair MIPA Doctoral Study Program on August 12 2019 with Promoter Prof. Dr. Y.S. Wulan Manuhara, M.Sc. and Copromoter Dr. Dwi Winarni, M.Sc. The approved dissertation title is “Antioxidant and Anticancer Potential of Life Connecting Adventitious Root Extract (Gynura procumbens) Results of In Vitro Culture (Test on Mice and Cell Culture)”. My PhD status is a study assignment from Unair, meaning I am also active in teaching in the Biology Undergraduate Study Program so I have to be very clever in dividing my time, energy and concentration so that nothing is neglected.
In the early days of academic activities, everything went smoothly. I immediately carried out preliminary research assisted by several undergraduate students from the Biology Study Program, and even went to Universiti Malaya – Kuala Lumpur Malaysia to establish collaboration. The initial obstacle occurred when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world and Indonesia, as a consequence all faculties at Unair had to “lock down” without any activities for an uncertain time. I thought about taking a semester off because I couldn’t work in the laboratory, but was prevented by Prof. Dr. Y.S. Wulan Manuhara, M.Sc. He suggested continuing while writing a research proposal and preparing a draft publication manuscript. After approximately 4 months of uncertainty, the campus finally started to open following strict health protocols. Research can be resumed, but other problems stand in the way. The supplier said that the research kit that I had ordered had to be indented for 2-3 months, like it or not, the research had to be rescheduled so that when the experimental animal treatment was finished, the research kit was ready for sample testing. Thank God, finally everything went according to plan so that by the start of semester 5 all the required research data had been completed.
I then submitted existing research data to various scientific forums because the S3 by Research Program requires a manuscript to be published either as a proceeding or as a Scopus indexed international journal in order to be able to take part in Closed Examinations and Open Doctoral Examinations. The peak of my activity was semester 5 because at that time I submitted several articles at almost the same time. So once manuscript 1 has been reviewed and must be corrected within 1-2 weeks, it doesn’t take long for there to be a notification that manuscript 2 must also be corrected. The same thing happened to my other manuscripts. This process lasts for almost 5-8 months. Thank God, seven (7) of my manuscripts during my PhD were declared “accepted” and “published” in the 6th semester so that I could advance for the Closed Examination on August 31 2022 and was declared not to need an Open Examination because I had more than 3 published manuscripts as a substitute for the Open Examination . It was an unforgettable day during my study career that I was finally able to graduate from my doctoral degree.
Is my problem solved? Apparently not yet. After collecting all the necessary documents, I should be able to take part in the PhD Judicial Examination on October 13 2022, but it turns out there are still administrative problems that are holding me back and I need to resolve them immediately. Fortunately, this problem was resolved quickly, so I was finally able to take part in the Doctoral Graduation on November 2 2022 with the title “Cumlaude” and just have to wait for Graduation which is planned to be held in December 2022.
To the friends of the 2019 FST Unair Doctoral Program, MIPA, class of 2019, remain enthusiastic about completing their studies. To be able to pass a doctoral degree, there are many paths that we can achieve, but sometimes there are obstacles that we cannot predict. Consider existing obstacles as challenges, which test us to be able to survive (like Darwin’s evolutionary principle that every living creature must be able to adapt to its environment). We still have to be able to focus on completing our doctoral studies, that is the main thing. It would be even better if it was supported by Promoters and Co-Promoters who always provide encouragement and support for the success of our doctoral studies.
